never gonna buy Microsoft hardware again

before you accuse me of jumping on the microsoft bashing bandwagon, the following are actually $#!t that's broken on microsoft released products.

first, there was the xbox power cord fire hazard:
Xbox.com | Press: Microsoft Announces Power Cord Replacement for Xbox

next, xbox 360 Red Ring of Death:
Xbox 360: Three red lights flash on the Ring of Light

and my microsoft branded optical mouse died.

it wasn't until when the mouse died on me (a fricken optical mouse, mind you) that really made me question why did microsoft go into all of this hardware business, get kicked in the left nutt with major manufacturing defects, survived it, get kicked in the other nutt with another defect and is still able to go on. to which i guess, if you have more money than god, then you can pay off any debt you have with the devil.

fast foward to these recent weeks, and you'll see these headlines:

• DRM sucks redux: Microsoft to nuke MSN Music DRM keys
• Interview: Microsoft's Rob Bennett defends DRM decision
• Microsoft turns the DRM screw on MSN Music owners

The reason for shutting down the DRM-licensing servers was "every time there is an OS upgrade, the DRM equation gets complex very quickly,"

ok, these are technically software and not hardware failures -- but if you follow the music content to your PC and then to your zune or any of your other PlayForSure device, garbage. who else even had a "playforsure" device for that matter... so what if you paid for all of that content. when you get a new computer you need to pay for it again?

the "DRM equation gets complex very quickly" ?!? what a total cop out admission.

which finally, brings us to the icing on the cake:

• NBC-Vista copy-protection snafu reminds us why DRM stinks
• Update: Why is NBC Flagging Digital TV Programs - and Why is Microsoft Obeying It?
• Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center Play By?

now, they will actually go out of their way to break your viewing experience. usually, you would want to cater to your audience. present your product that provides and delivers value and entertainment, not frustration and anger.

yes, this is another software "problem". but this isn't like a bug or a security hole. this is planned "let's ruin the viewer experience". and to tie this to the whole "i'm not gonna buy microsoft hardware ever again" mantra, if i have a remote control in my hand, and i press "record this show" - like how i can do this on my TiVO, cable DVR, VHS VCR, MythTV, etc. - i expect it to record it. now, i will never pick up (nor recommend to anybody) a media center PC. too bad for the PC manufacturers, who is not to be blamed, but who suckered into using the crippled OS.

to the fans of DRM, go ahead, lock your content out. you will loose your audience in droves when they basically "can't" watch your shows. people will find something else to watch. or on something else that will allow them to continue to watch their must see tv.

xbox360 + bluray player = not gonna happen

there is no reason for the xbox 360 to come out with a blu-ray drive. yeah, it came out (later) with an HD-DVD drive add-on, but no one was buying the HD-DVD drive to play movies with it. if you did, then you would have helped to push the numbers of HD-DVD discs selling off the shelves. but since the numbers shows that blu-ray titles are outselling HD-DVD, you didn't. (search for "hd-dvd bluray outselling" in your favorite search engine and then figure out which results you would believe in.)

NO game was ever made to take advantage of the HD-drive. in fact, it's not allowed by microsoft (search for "hd-dvd 360 game"). video game development needs to target the base model that every gamer will have -- a DVD-9 with no harddrive pizza box.

but, if i had to guess when there will be a blu-ray drive xbox system, it'll be at the end of 2009. what makes me say this? currently, microsoft is running on a 4 year life cycle on their xbox line. let's take a look at some past history.

nintendo has about a 5 year period between each console: (wikipedia)

 nes: fall/winter 1990
 n64: summer/fall 1996
 gc: summer/fall 2001
 wii: fall/winter 2006

sony has about a 6 year period between each console: (wikipedia)

 ps1: winter 1994
 ps2: spring 2000
 ps3: fall 2006

and microsoft has released their xbox like this: (wikipedia)

 xbox: fall/winter 2001
 360: fall/winter 2005

so, in the span of one playstation product release, there has been two xbox products. this should piss off a lot of gamers if they finally sit down and do the math for owning 2 xbox consoles for every 1 playstation. but, for some people, the newer the better. right?

and then there's this article:
Unreal Engine 4 to "exclusively target" next-gen consoles

it makes me believe there's a new xbox under development for something like this to be even remotely mentioned about. the sony and nintendo shout outs were just a cover for the "we are working on a new engine for the next xbox" statement. i bet that by the time unreal engine 4 is about to be released, so will the xbox 3/720/me/vista/fill-in-your-flavor-here...